Do H!P fans think music by all other idols is shit?

1: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:22:44.85 0You know, just like how all the other idol fans think H!P music is shit?

3: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:25:17.51 0I don’t think it’s shit. I just don’t feel like listening to any of it.

5: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:26:51.46 0
Once you get hooked on H!P, you can’t go back to listening to other idols anymore.

18: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:34:31.02 0>>5
I thought that way when I was a H!P wota, too. It just felt like such a bother listening to other idols, so I didn’t.

7: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:28:11.22 0Yeah, other idols’ music does seem boring without the usual H!P qualities. But I’m sure fans of those other groups would say the same thing about their favorite groups.

6: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:27:34.29 0
I think PASSPO☆ is the best as far as compositions go,

10: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:29:54.73 0
I think the lyrics Akimoto writes for AKB are incredibly shallow. And not just shallow in the way Terada’s lyrics are shallow; it’s the kind of shallowness that it feels like it’s a crook writing them. I do think the music is good though.

11: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:30:39.35 0
I like groups such as Perfume and BABYMETAL who don’t rely on handshake events. The AKB groups are the worst thing to ever happen. I don’t understand what their listeners hear in them.

12: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:31:08.16 0
The quality of H!P music is just too high.
All the other groups? Yeah… not so much. ＾＾；

13: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:31:22.25 0
I liked BiS.

14: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:31:45.95 0
Even the scope of H!P itself is so wide though. I don’t really like Buono! or °C-ute for example.

131: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:24:13.22 0
I don’t like idol songs where the guitar is the main instrument.

15: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:32:28.43 0AKB’s music is something you listen to with the lower half of your body. That’s the part of your body it’s made to stimulate.

16: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:33:10.01 0
PASSPO, BABYMETAL, BiS, Buono!, I really can’t listen to any of that rock-type stuff. That’s all it takes for me to completely reject them. I just feel embarrassed when I try to listen to something like PASSPO.

20: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:34:35.39 0
BiS had a reason for being just for releasing “nerve.”

24: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:36:16.88 0
BiS has lots of great songs. Groups like Sakura Gakuin, BELLRING Shoujo Hearts and Ebichuu are like a treasure trove of great songs, too. I’ve discovered so much good music after I quit being a H!P wota.

27: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:36:51.12 0
I really think “One Two Three” is the only good H!P song.

85: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:15:33.17 0>>27
I made a Momoclo fan friend of mine listen to that and they didn’t like it at all.

87: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:20:04.48 0>>85
That song got a great reception at the MBS music festival though. I think it got the best reception in NY, too.

29: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:37:27.19 0
I used to listen to AKB a lot. Now I just think they’re shit.

38: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:42:24.59 0I don’t have any interest in idol songs. I just want to listen to Meimei sing.

40: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:42:58.24 0I think 90% percent of all H!P songs are shit, and it’s all worse than stuff by other idols. But every now and then they’ll put out an amazing song no other idol group could ever be capable of releasing.

46: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:48:03.99 0>>40
Same here. I think H!P’s songs are shit for the most part, but every now and then they’ll have a song I could never hear from another group, so I can’t give up on them.

49: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:48:52.12 0
We’re now living in an age where people will say any idol song is shit if you can’t “oi oi” or MIX to it.

52: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:50:41.76 0
When all’s said and done… I still personally found myself enjoying H!P this year, too. Songs like “Otona na no yo” and “Kokoro no Sakebi,” and on the other end of the spectrum, songs like “Diet Oukoku” and “Chikyuu wa Kyou mo Ai wo Hagukumu.”

54: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:52:40.51 0Every now and then I’ll hear a song by a non-H!P idol group and think it’s good. I won’t think it’s shit, but I also won’t actively listen to it. With H!P songs, it happens so often that I’ll hear a song by them that I think is shit on the first listen, but after listening to it several times, or after hearing it again for the first time in several years, I’ll suddenly really like it.

57: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:53:37.29 0H!P wota are all like religious fundamentalists who will only recognize H!P idols as being anything worthwhile. For them, all other idols are shit, all their songs sound like shit, and liking any other idol group would be nothing short of heresy.

64: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:57:23.84 0
As far as idols go, H!P, Perfume and Kyary are pretty much all I listen to.

65: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:57:34.93 0
Even though I actually do like the music itself, I really just can’t physically stand hearing the lyrics Akimoto writes for AKB.

67: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:58:29.40 0>>65
This so much. I’ve never been able to stand listening to AKB.

70: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:59:47.29 0
Akekasu is, in a word, shit. Flimsy, boring, all-unison vocal melodies even on the recorded versions of their songs. I can’t bear listening to them.

79: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:09:18.41 0
BABYMETAL needs about three times the amount of songs they have right now if they don’t want people to get start getting bored of them.

81: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:10:37.10 0
With “I miss you,” °C-ute finally has a song they actually have a fair chance with on the major music market.

83: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:12:08.05 O
Akekasu’s songs are good, but the lyrics are so damn shallow.
I like SUPER GIRLS, Idoling!!!, Fudanjuku and THE Possible.
Up Up Girls are so amateurish, their songs sound only half-finished.
Dempagumi are out of the question.
At the end of the day, H!P are just the most interesting.

90: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:24:26.70 0
I don’t think there’s much meaning in being so fanatical about the music when it comes to idols. Or, to be exact, I don’t see any meaning in doing so.

91: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:25:15.65 0>>90
Well, what about idols does have meaning then?

93: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:26:47.54 0>>91
The members’ personalities. The only reason Momoclo is promoted as some sort of idol group for music lovers (LOL) is because they’re trying to hide the fact that their members have no personality.

94: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:27:47.87 0
Groups like Momoclo and Dempagumi are just trying to make up for their low quality members by using songwriters with established reputations.

95: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:30:48.66 0
If you want to talk about the “quality of the members,” how would you rank H!P?

100: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:35:57.46 0
I don’t ever feel like listening to anything but H!P so I wouldn’t know.

43: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 14:46:07.14 0I think H!P’s songs are shit, but the members themselves are pretty high quality. It’s like a bunch of F1 racers all driving crappy, worn-out cars.

96: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:31:46.34 0
Nogizaka’s members are high quality.

111: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:45:38.64 0The one thing I do know is that H!P is the only one with a well-known songwriter who still continues to mass produce amazing music.

112: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:47:42.19 0
I found this year’s crop of songs to be pretty disappointing though. But I guess it can’t be helped considering what was going on in his private life.

113: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 15:47:49.13 0
H!P is the only group that makes you question the sensibilities of its songwriter. (laughs) It’s kind of like if you’ve been eating nothing but tonkotsu ramen for a long time, ordinary soy sauce ramen won’t taste much like anything anymore. Once you get used to H!P’s songs, other groups’ music will just sound boring.

123: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:12:16.69 0
I don’t have the time to listen to anything outside of H!P. If I did have the time (and the money), I’d listen to other groups and go to their events, too.

128: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:21:08.72 0
Momusu hasn’t had a good song since “Namidacchi.”

136: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:32:33.79 0
If you listen to music by other idols, you’ll be shocked by how shitty H!P songs sound in comparison.

139: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:35:06.05 0
I thought AKB was pretty amazing at first, what with it having so many members and bringing about the era of idols. But at the end of the day, H!P is the most high quality group.

130: KD182250251231.au-net.ne.jp 2014/11/06(木) 16:23:39.98 0
Does it even make a difference in AKB’s songs who the center is? It’s all just singing in unison and a “main singer” isn’t even a thing with them, so it feels like the songs are all the same regardless of the center member.

149: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:46:57.06 0
H!P just has such a large variety of songs, including the shitty ones. They have history. I really think that’s their strong point.

151: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:55:26.51 0
More than the music, it’s the unison singing (and the lyrics) with AKB and the yapping vocals of Momoclo that turn me off those groups. avex does have an impression for me of doing a lot better on this front.

140: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:37:46.94 0Isn’t the deal with idol groups pretty much that you come to like their songs because you like the idols themselves?

142: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:42:40.23 0
I don’t think it’s just one or two of us who don’t care the least bit about idols, but are just hooked on H!P’s songs. That’s something I would think is different from other idols. Well, BABYMETAL might have some of those types of fans, too, though.

145: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 16:44:13.42 0>>140Some of us come to like idols because we liked their songs first.

163: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 17:55:55.64 0You’ll be able to think of a good song as being just that — a good song — if you don’t have any preconceptions about the group performing it. But if you already hate the group before you hear them, their music will inevitably sound like shit to you. It’s all subjective. You won’t say someone has good music if you detest the group that’s performing it.

And that’s why I can pretty much listen to all idol groups aside from AKB.

39: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 22:09:45.66 0.net
I used to think TOKYO GIRLS’ STYLE was the group for funk lovers, but lately GALETTe is coming out on top for me. Chikuda Hiroshi, a pupil of Matsui Hiroshi (TOKYO GIRLS’ STYLE) has written many of their songs.

41: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 22:10:46.40 0.net>>39
Didn’t know that about Chikuda. Thanks for the bit of trivia.

53: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 22:23:56.90 0.net>>41Nanba Kazumi presents “The Songs of Our Heroines” ~Finding the key people of idol pop!～ no.18: Chikuda Hiroshi – CDJournal (J)When Matsui went to Kyushu to work with local idol group CQC’s, that’s apparently when the two became teacher and student. This song is probably Matsui:

56: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 22:31:34.98 0.net>>53
Matsui is like a machine at making good songs. This guy has almost no duds.

67: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 23:29:01.43 0.net
I don’t know what you’d call this genre, but are there any idols out there right now who sing songs like this? If so, please do tell. I want to get fired up to this kind of stuff at some live club.

68: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 23:34:45.37 0.net>>67
That’s called “rocking R&B.” It was R&B from the 50’s and 60’s that became the prototype for rock and roll. I couldn’t tell you if there are any idols who perform this kind of thing now, though. Sorry. But if you go back in time I’m sure you’d find idols who do, because groups like Candies used to do Stax soul and basically just all-out blues. They were generally leaning more towards R&B though, so they’re a bit different from what you’re looking for.

74: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:24:21.92 0.net>>68
Candies were funk or Motown at best. The closest they got to R&B was stuff like Tina Turner’s “Proud Mary.”

Candies – Fantasy (‘78.4.1 live)

Candies – Sir Duke

75: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:27:33.33 0.net>>74
“Yasashii Akuma” is nothing if not blues. Hell, even their theme song was just flat-out MG’s.

77: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:30:40.44 0.netWhat kind of music did Tsunku P like again? Funk? Is that different from soul or blues?

79: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:33:18.45 0.net>>77
They have similarities, but feel free to think of them as separate things entirely. The real funk fans will call Tsunku’s funky songs only “pseudo-funk” or something. It’s hard to call them genuine funk. That’s a complaint you’ll often see in threads like this.

80: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:33:33.36 0.net
There’s not that clear of a difference between any of them. Well, I guess the one thing you could say is that soul is 8-beat, funk is 16-beat, and blues is 3 chords.

81: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:35:21.24 0.netI don’t understand any of the musical jargon, so all I can really say is “okay.” By the way, does H!P then have anything that’s like soul or blues? Sorry for making you teach me all the basics.

82: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:40:44.53 0.net
Something like Tanpopo’s “Sentimental Minamimuki” I guess would be close to Motown, or rather, the stylish soul of Invictus Records/Hot Wax Records that were created by the Motown songwriting team Holland-Dozier-Holland. (Someone just mentioned Stax soul — that’s something that could be called more “earthy,” I guess.) Soul, too, has lots of different sub-styles.

I don’t think H!P has any songs that would give you a clear idea of what blues is on first listen. But sort of like Prince’s “Purple Rain,” they have lots of songs that if you listen to closely, you’ll definitely hear the basic structures of blues in there.

83: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:45:07.99 0.net
It’s rock and roll, but this one is kind of bluesy:

Morning Musume – 3, 2, 1 BREAKIN’ OUT!

And this one is kind of funky, but it’s also kind of 70’s soul-ish:

Morning Musume – DANCE suru no da!

84: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 00:54:40.38 0.net>>82>>83Thanks. I kinda-sorta (and I really mean kinda-sorta) get what soul is now. Considering how there’s so few of those kinds of songs in H!P’s wide library of music, I guess it means those aren’t really Tsunku P’s favorite genres of music.

87: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 01:01:38.69 0.net>>84There aren’t any songs that are clearly blues, but there are quite a lot of songs that are soul-ish. That first Tower Records compilation album (the one with the songs chosen by President Minewaki and Nanba Kazumi), for example, was basically full of mainly funky and soul-y songs.

91: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/07(金) 01:32:37.13 0.net>>90Great song selection. Clearly the work of professionals.

50: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 22:14:56.09 0.net
I wish they’d get more songs like Matenrou.

3: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 21:46:55.16 0.net
For some reason they don’t even perform it live much.

9: 名無し募集中。。。 2014/11/06(木) 21:48:09.78 0.netThey should really give the song to some other group if they won’t even sing it themselves. It’s just that good.

Henkka: Just in case anyone wanted my answer to the question posed by the first thread: no, I don’t think all non-H!P idol music is shit. With that said, not a lot of it appeals to me. BABYMETAL is cool and I kinda-sorta dig BELLRING Shoujo Heart’s gimmick, but that’s pretty much it, and neither of those groups grab me to the point where I’d care to follow them to any real extent.

I’m definitely in the camp of people who get into idols through their music first (silly me, I know), and I used to be better about giving groups a fair chance to decide what I think about them. But at this point I have no real expectations for anyone that isn’t produced by Tsunku, and let’s be honest: more often than not, this lack of expectation leads to me not even bothering anymore.

But what with Tsunku just in the last two months giving me songs like “I miss you,” “Romance wo Katatte” and “Shabadabadoo” like it’s just another day at the office for him… what the hell, right?

Interesting threads. Personally, I can enjoy things that sound nice even if they come from other idols. Their stuff is usually not that interesting though, so even if it doesn’t sound bad, I tend to not go out of my way to listen to it.

> But what with Tsunku just in the last two months giving me songs like “I miss you,” “Romance wo Katatte” and “Shabadabadoo” like it’s just another day at the office for him… what the hell, right?
Pretty much.

I judge idols by their sound first because music–or should I say music videos–are the most accessible aspect of idols for me. Maybe it would be different if I was living in Japan. I listen to a few other idols outside of H!P (Kyary, Perfume, Momoclo, a bit of Tokyo Girls Style) but H!P music is still the best to me. Suzuki Shunsuke’s arranged a ton of my favourites!

> I think H!P’s songs are shit, but the members themselves are pretty high quality. It’s like a bunch of F1 racers all driving crappy, worn-out cars.
Well said.

There are some (very few) good H!P songs, but if you want *good* music, you have to listen to other groups: BiS, Bellring Shoujo Heart, FRUITPOCHETTE, nanoCUNE, Ebichu, etc.

H!P is better than 99% of the other shitty idol groups, but it’s not something that you would recommend to your friend who’s into jazz fusion or whatever. On the other hand, he might appreciate Bellring and the others I named earlier.

I’ve listened to iDOL STREET and 48G music which I like but in the end, I’m with H!P. The music isn’t always the best but it’s unique. Though every now and then there’s this one amazing song that I’ll listen to forever. There’s also a song that I’ve listened to before that I hated but now I love

I’ve got no probs with other idol groups. I also listen to ones that spawned from H!P, like Up Up Girls. I like AKB’s River. I don’t really follow them, I just remember watching the video for it and I think it’s a good song.

For me, it’s not just the music, but the group overall. I just can’t picture those large groups actually getting along. I can just imagine cliques, rivalries, and such that simply isn’t shown to the public. I’m sure H!P is like that too (Mano and Kanyon for example), but within their respective groups, I feel they probably get along better. Doesn’t mean that’s the case, just how I feel.

The first Idol I listen is AKB “Heavy Rotation” because all the hype of course . But, I always remember the first song that really brought me into idol music, H!P specifically : Please Miniskirt Postwoman of S/mileage :

The beginning is simple very comic. Just a short synthesizer arpeggio followed by harpsicord line like a rusty video game intro. Then suddenly – high above it – two squeky girl voices hanging there unwavering, till the rest of girls took over sweetened it into phrase of such delight… This was no composition by perverted monkey. This was a music I’d never heard. Filled with such joy, such pure innocent joy, it had me trembling. It seemed to me that I was hearing the very voice of God.

That’s why I always feel that H!P music is so great, that others idol’s just fall into mediocrity.

Thanks for translating, Henkka!
These kind of threads are very interesting. :)

I can relate to what you said – I get into idols through the music first, and while I don’t consider everything else bad, I really like H!P to the point where it’s hard to even bother listening to other groups. XD
I enjoy Tokyo Girls Style a lot though, and very recently I’ve gotten into Babymetal (which is absolutely bizarre, since I don’t listen to metal AT ALL. But Megitsune is such a cool song, and Gimme Choco is funny and cute in a strange way XD). I also listen a liiiitle bit to Perfume, Fairies and Flower. Through these threads I got interested in Galette too (I love funky songs!).
But you know, the funny thing is that while I like these groups music, I don’t even know all the members name and can’t really distinguish all the girls. It’s not that I dislike them, I simply can’t bother to get to know them more. Just by enjoying the songs, I’m satisfied.
With H!P though, I like the music AND the idols.

“With H!P songs, it happens so often that I’ll hear a song by them that I think is shit on the first listen, but after listening to it several times, or after hearing it again for the first time in several years, I’ll suddenly really like it.”

This phenomenon puzzles me. I’ve got a random playlist with pretty much every H!P song I have, so sometimes I’ll hear a song and not recognize it, but think it’s really good. So I pick up the player, see, what it is, and think “What!? Didn’t I decide a year ago I didn’t care about that one!?”

Oh yes. I have the same problem. The latest examples would be TIKI BUN (which is not that creative but catchy) and Senobi (which is not that catchy at first listen but it kind of gets stuck in my head).

H!P is my main idol fix, but I like a lot of other idol groups. Avex in particular have had some really good funk-based idol groups going back to SweetS and Paradise Go Go, and now with Tokyo Girls’ Style. Baby Metal is the shit. Perfume is solid. Momoclo would be great if the girls could sing even a little bit.

I’m surprised at how many Japanese H!P fans didn’t like Buono!, as they were pretty much the only part of H!P that I had any interest in during their run. Next to MM, Buono! is my all time favorite H!P group.

In a discussion like this, I think it makes some sense. Tsunku is the biggest difference between H!P idol music and non-H!P idol music, so if you like H!P idol music much more than non-H!P idol music it’s probably due to him. So the parts of H!P he had very little to do with, like Buono!, won’t have that going for them.

I’m such a person who doesn’t _dislike_ Buono!, but they’re not a group I’ve made a point to check out while there’s still so much Tsunku content I haven’t gotten to yet.

I pretty much have the exact same stance as Hennka. You have hope, at first, that you can get into other idols as easily as H!P – and that hope still comes back every so often, most recently in this very thread, when listening to thise GALETTe songs, which are pretty good! – but in the end, you just come back to Tsunku. His music sounds “fuller” for whatever reason – it doesn’t sound as mass-produced and hollow (that line about the soulless unison singing was spot-on). And the fact that he’s still willing to experiment and try new things with his groups (see “I Miss you”, “TokiSora”, or even just MM’s complete transformation around OTT), makes it that much more interesting.

First impression for me to love H!P for so long (from 2002), was just pure music.. and performance of course.. Idol is not about looks, cuteness, personality, sexiness, but they must be able to perform a good song and good performance.

I don’t really get people who are into momusu for just the girls. They are literally interchangeable! I’m not saying they’re boring or anything, but it’s the concept of the group, that the girls come and go. The only constant thing is the Tsunku music.

I’ve been a fan since 2001, and I’m not listening to current H!P music, fantasizing about the girls from those days.

I would totally agree with this entire post. I came to the realization that I love all the disco/funky/motown songs, but also with the last comment from “Romance wo Kattate”, “I Miss You” and “Shabadabadoo” Its so hard to not think that Tsunku is actually a genius. I go through phases of not caring about H!P. That happened to me when the 9th joined up until one.two.three, then I started paying attention again. In the end though, I think the charm of the Idols H!P acquires is more than enough to keep fans going.

I enjoy other idols’ music, but I find that non-H!P idols sometimes sound generic. Even if they’re non-H!P idols, my favourite ones are quirky as well. (BiS!) I like when songs sound like they belong to their groups, and H!P is exactly that. I love the girls in H!P, but my kami-oshi has graduated, and my current oshi’s group is disbanding, and I’m still here… so it’s definitely not just the girls that make H!P, they just enrich it. They bring life to Tsunku’s creativity, in a highly marketable form.

I guess they’re right. H!P wotas are really just Tsunku wotas. He’s pretty damn close to a genius. Isn’t it also said H!P wotas tend to have really interesting and sometimes obscure music tastes outside of H!P, and not really idol fans in general?

agreed on both counts. AKB lyrics serve to please old greasy wotas only. And Super Girls are actually really great! I’m probably biased but they got a good mix a generic idol quality and enough weirdness to keep them interesting. And the musics pretty good too.

In my mind, what is appealing about Tsunku’s music is the fact that he seems to just throw the kitchen sink at every song he writes and yet still comes out with a top notch melody.

Take Morning Musume’s ‘Only You’. If you just heard the chorus you’d think that it was a class idol song with a basic melody. But the crazy rhythms on the verses take it up to the next level. ‘Help Me’ has a similar thing going on; the melodies at Oda’s solo bit and parts of the chorus are almost broadway-like and the contrast of this with the contained verses makes for something great.

I do like other idols. Namely Tokyo Girls’ Style, largely for their slick production (something that’s slightly thin on the ground in h!p). But while I like a few xxx48 songs I find much of AKB’s material (certainly their A-sides) these days to be rather drab in comparison to what’s on offer at h!p.

I listen to Nana Mizuki more than anything else. In terms of singing and production quality, she is a goddess compared to H!P stuff. Even though I did just listen to a lot of MM songs yesterday cause I haven’t in awhile. But I think Tsunku can only write songs what the girls are only capable of doing, he probably has to hold back since the girls aren’t to that skill level.

I could go on and on about how I love H!P, the songs, the production values, the girls themselves…………but since everyone is mentioning what they like, and come April it will be 10 years since they broke up, but the bandol group (band+idol) that I consider legends was ZONE. Their entire single discography, from Good Days to Secret Base to Glory Days to Egao Biyori is some of the most well-crafted Jpop of all time.